Google Pixel 9 Series to Reportedly Arrive With Google AI, Offer New Recall-Like Screenshots Features

Google Pixel 9 series has been confirmed to be unveiled by the company on August 13. Ahead of the launch, a new report has revealed three new artificial intelligence (AI) features that may arrive with the smartphone. These features are reportedly being shipped under the ‘Google AI’ branding, a first for the smartphone series. A new Screenshots feature is part of the trio, and based on its reported description, it appears to be a slightly different take on Microsoft’s recently announced AI Recall feature for its Copilot+ PCs.

Google Pixel 9 to Reportedly Get a Recall-Like AI Screenshots Feature

Microsoft introduced an AI-powered feature dubbed Recall in May. It captures periodic screenshots of the PC and stores them to create a chronological logbook of the user’s activity on the device. Later, when the user asks the AI about what they were doing on a certain day and at a certain time, the on-device AI can process the information from the screenshot database and share it.

However, the feature drew criticism due to its privacy-intrusive nature and lack of safety and encryption. Notably, Microsoft has promised to add several security features and has delayed Recall’s launch.

Google AI Screenshots feature
Photo Credit: Android Authority

But Google’s take on the feature is somewhat different, according to a report by Android Authority. The smartphone reportedly does not capture screenshots on its own but stores the manually clicked screenshots with some additional metadata. These will include information such as the name of the app, web links, and more. Then, an on-device AI, which could be the Gemini Nano AI model, will process these images and answer user queries around them, the report mentioned citing an unnamed source.

While the use case and exact implementation of the feature are not known currently, the Screenshots feature could offer a way for users to organise and gain quick information from their stored screenshots.

Other Google AI Features to Reportedly be Unveiled Next Month

As per the report, two more Google AI features will also arrive alongside AI Screenshots. The first among them is Add Me. A description of the feature in an image shared by the publication says, “Make sure everyone’s included in a group photo”. Based on this information, the feature appears to be an add-on to last year’s Best Take feature that improves people’s expressions in a group photo. Add Me could help users in situations where a certain group photo has a couple of members missing. Users might be able to take other group photos and merge them with the target photo to add the missing members.

Google AI features
Photo Credit: Android Authority

Another feature is dubbed Studio, with a description that says “You imagine it. Pixel creates it.” While the description makes it appear like a generic AI image generator, the report claims it might do more than that, potentially allowing users to edit images and create stickers as well. If this turns out to be true, then the feature would be similar to Apple’s AI-powered Image Playground feature, announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June.

Apart from this, the shared screenshot also highlights that Circle to Search and the built-in Gemini AI assistant will also be shipped as part of Google AI when the Pixel 9 series arrives.